1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to martial arts/defensive weapons that can be used as hand propelled projectiles as well as hand-held close range weapons. More particularly, the present invention relates to such a weapon having a single longitudinally extending point, and which is adapted to be projected through the air in point-first flight involving rotation about its longitudinal axis.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In the martial arts/self-defense world, hand-held and hand-propelled weapons (i.e. non-firearm, non-archery weapons) are sometimes classified by their respective fighting range. For example, knives and nunchuku are for close range, spears and staffs are for mid-range, and various throwing weapons, such as throwing stars, are for long-range use.
There has always been a desire to devise a weapon that could be effective and accurate at all these ranges. For example, knives which are notoriously hand-held, short range weapons, have been thrown in an attempt to expand them into the mid to long ranges, but, as is well known to the professional knife thrower, there are drawbacks inherent to the throwing knife. The major limitation stems from the end-over-end rotation of the throwing knife which dictates that it cannot be thrown at any random distance from an intended target--the distance must be measured in rotations. Thus the knife thrower must always contend with judging the rotation of the knife to a given target--a difficult task and one that is compounded when the target is moving. Additionally, it is noted that a knife that is specifically designed for throwing (i.e. balanced), usually has limited use as a close-range fighting weapon.
One type of hand-propelled weapon that avoids the rotational problems of the throwing knife is the throwing star, also known as the Chinese Star. These weapons are characterized by a circumferential array of multiple pointed tips, and are thrown in the fashion of flying discs. Unfortunately, years of dedication are required to learn to throw a star with power and accuracy. Another drawback with stars as a long-range weapon is the limited and minimal penetration of a target because of the relative small size of its points. Attempts have been made to make throwing stars function in close range combat, but they have limited use as a hand-to-hand fighting weapon because of their multiple points make it quite difficult to hold in hand. U.S. Pat. No. 4,765,628 shows a multi-tipped ring-shaped throwing weapon that is proposed as an improvement over the conventional throwing star, however, like the throwing star this weapon apparently does not lend itself to be effectively used as a hand-held weapon.
Another hand-propelled throwing projectile which may overcome some of the rotational problems of the throwing knife is shown in the U.S. Pat. No. 2,490,470. This U-shaped projectile for a game has a pair of spaced-apart, sharpened tips, and can be thrown such that it's tips remain foremost during its flight path, rotation occurring about a longitudinal axis. Despite this one advantage, it is noted that the effectiveness such a device is limited by the fairly rapid rotation of the dual tips in a circle during flight. Such device is also limited by the spreading of the device's striking force over two tips, thereby reducing the penetrating power of each tip, and by the fact that such designs do not lend themselves to be hand-held for close-range combat.